To access the synthesis report of this online discussion click here.

Context

Women everywhere are held back by discriminatory social norms. Changing social norms starts with new laws, but also with changing attitudes and behaviours.

As our Social Institutions and Gender Index shows, just over 1 in 4 women around the world still believe that spousal violence is sometimes justified. Almost half of all people think that men make better political leaders than women. In the household, women globally still undertake 75% of unpaid care and domestic work.

The current COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating gender inequality and some of these harmful social norms. Confined at home with schools closed, women are under pressure to conduct unpaid care work and schooling, and many are suffering from increased domestic violence. Moreover, women represent the majority of the healthcare workforce and are therefore on the frontlines of battling the pandemic.

Communication is a powerful tool that can help shift attitudes and behaviours, and digital communications have opened up new possibilities for dialogue and interaction.

This is why the OECD DevCom Network has proposed 7 Principles in Communicating for Gender Equality. The principles draw on a number of exchanges and a Workshop that DevCom organised with leading campaigners, researchers and policy makers in late 2018.

The discussion is organised in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement, the Overseas Development Institute, the Align Platform and the Generation Equality Forum.

Aim of this online discussion

As we experience the COVID-19 pandemic and look ahead to the Generation Equality Forum, this online discussion aims to:

• Provide a space for dialogue on communicating for gender equality;
• Generate advice for anyone communicating for gender equality and behavioural change.

You can help us achieve these goals! Join our discussion by responding to the questions below from 14-21 April 2020. The discussion is open for contributions in English, French or Spanish.

The outcomes of this discussion will be synthesised in a short note, published on Wikigender and on DevCom’s SDG Communicator platform. We will also share results at future events, inviting policy makers and key development actors to commit to better communications on gender equality.

Guiding questions

1. IDENTIFYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES

• Which of DevCom’s 7 principles do you consider to be most important, and why? Are there further principles that you would add to the list?
• What do you regard as communications priorities during the current COVID-19 pandemic?

2. SHARING LESSONS AND EXPERIENCES

• Can you provide an example of how you are applying one or more of the principles? Please tell us what you have learned!
• Do you know any campaigns that successfully raised awareness on gender equality and had an impact on attitudes and behaviours? Why do you think they were successful?
• During the current COVID-19 pandemic, online interaction is sky-rocketing. Have you come across any empowering campaigns?

3. LOOKING AHEAD

• Looking forward to the Generation Equality Forum, what will you or your organisation do to improve your communications and campaigning for gender equality?
• How can we spread the word and encourage organisations to consider the 7 principles?

Contribute!

We look forward to your participation! We strongly encourage you to disseminate news about the online discussion via your networks and on Twitter using #CommunicatingGender and the following link to this page: https://bit.ly/34lMFJ4 Secondary hashtags include: #Communications #GenderEquality #socialnorms #Covid19Comms #GenerationEquality #OECDDevCom #SIGI

• To participate, simply type your comment below or register directly via Disqus, Twitter, Facebook or Google before typing your comment. Open for comments from 9am on 14/04 until 6pm on 21/04
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 The OECD Development Centre is a special body of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation of Development (OECD) linking OECD members with developing and emerging economies. The Development Centre produces high-quality analysis and fosters dialogue to identify creative policy solutions to emerging global issues and development challenges.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated trainee to join the Centre’s gender team, based in Paris. The trainee will assist the team on its two flagship initiatives, the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and the Wikigender Platform:

• The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) is a cross-country measure of formal and informal laws, social norms and practices that restrict women and girls’ empowerment opportunities. A first edition was launched in 2009. Then the SIGI was updated in 2012, 2014 and 2018. Since 2014, the gender team has published SIGI Regional Reports and finalised two SIGI country studies in Uganda and Burkina Faso. The Development Centre is now producing new regional reports, based on the SIGI 2019 data, and conducting a SIGI country study in Tanzania in partnership with UN Women.
• Wikigender is a global online collaborative platform linking policymakers and experts from both developed and developing countries to find solutions to advance gender equality. It provides a centralised space for knowledge exchange on key emerging issues, with a strong focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular on SDG 5. English, French and Spanish speakers worldwide can discuss current issues, relevant research and emerging trends on gender equality.

The trainee will be expected to:

• Contribute to the production of the SIGI regional reports, including production of analytical and thematic chapters, graphs, sub-regional overviews, annexes, references and management of the formatting and editing;
• Contribute to the preparation of the launch of the SIGI 2019 regional reports, including drafting communication materials and liaising with relevant stakeholders;
• Contribute to the research of the gender team on discriminatory social institutions through the Social Institutions and Gender Index;
• Contribute to the editorial development of the Wikigender platform in English.
• Contribute to the production of the team’s other publications and papers on gender and development, including research, drafting and liaison with key stakeholders;
• Assist in the preparation of public presentations, reports other external communication material;
• Assist in the coordination of the gender team’s public events and workshops;

Other tasks

• Maintain a strong commitment to continuous professional development and effective teamwork.

Education and experience

• Currently undertaking post-graduate studies in development economics, gender, social science, international development and a related field;
• Be a registered student in an academic institution that has or is willing to sign an OECD Memorandum of Agreement relating to traineeships.

Core Competencies

• Strong interest in gender and development issues, demonstrated through previous experience in the field (courses, thesis, internships, etc.).
• Excellent communication and writing skills in English. Working knowledge of French and/or Spanish would be considered an asset.
• Proven ability to carry out quantitative analysis using standard statistical software packages (Excel).
• Fluency in the use of standard software applications (MS Office).

Ideally, the trainee would start by Monday 13 January 2020 for a duration of six months full-time with the possibility of renewal. The Organisation provides a contribution to living expenses of EUR 709 per month (rate applicable at the time of this publication). The trainee will need to make independent arrangements for travel and accommodation and must provide their own health and social insurance.

Interested candidates should send a CV and cover letter to Hyeshin Park at hyeshin.park@oecd.org by 15 November 2019.

Read the synthesis report of the online discussion here.

Context

Rural women play a key role in the development of rural and agricultural areas. They account for 43% of the world’s agricultural workforce, a percentage that reaches 70% in some countries. In North Africa and the Middle East, according to available data, the number of women in the agricultural workforce rose from 34% in 1995 to almost 45% in 2011.

Women are responsible for the majority of agricultural work, controlling most of the non-monetary economy (subsistence agriculture, childcare and child education, household responsibilities, water and energy supply). They are a major contributor to food and nutritional security, to generating income and to improving the livelihoods and general welfare of households, particularly those with low incomes.

Rural women are increasingly leading their own businesses, although their entrepreneurial potential remains largely unknown and underutilized. In terms of their role in the management of natural resources and their responsibilities in the provision of energy in their homes, they are leading actors in the fight against climate change.

Because of their role in the agricultural economy, women are at the heart of the resilience of rural societies and are a response to the Mediterranean challenges related to food security, the preservation of rural ecosystems, the sustainable management of Natural resources, adaptation to climate change and conservation of agro-biodiversity, and the issues of nutritional transition.

This strategic importance is included in the SDGs (1, 2, 5, 13), the regional plans and was underlined at the 62^nd session of the UN Commission on the status of Women (2018), whose priority theme this year was “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

While, at the global level, the participation in economic, social and political life remains unequal between women and men, these inequalities are manifested more intensely in the rural areas of the Mediterranean area. Women living in rural areas accumulate difficulties, inequalities and discrimination:

• They suffer from the effects of marginalization of the territories with limited access to basic infrastructure. They have less access to land and productive resources, have less or no qualified jobs and are less paid than men. They have less access to education, training and skills development, transportation, financial services, fertilizer use, mechanical equipment or new technologies. It is also common for women working on farms or family businesses to receive no salary.
• Particularly affected by natural disasters (irregular rainfall, floods, water scarcities…) and the effects of climate change on agriculture, women are the first to “absorb the shocks” of food crises.
• Rural women are subject to discrimination within the social and legal norms that govern their communities. Indeed, the impact of social norms and customary law is closely linked to the remoteness of rural areas where statutory law is more difficult to know, recognized and applied than in the urban area.
• Under-representation of women in organizations and institutions is more important in rural areas. Women remain uninformed about their rights, what reduces their participation in public policy decision-making processes.

The lack of recognizing and valuating of the role of women in rural areas and in agriculture is harmful not only for women but also for the whole society. This lead to the implementation of policies and programmes that are poorly oriented or even inadequate to the needs of women. Despite the many obstacles they face, rural women are a key to the development of the Mediterranean, as soon as their potential is recognized and valuated and addressing gender inequalities is in the center of public and private policies.

About the discussion

As part of the publication “Strengthening the role of women in rural and agricultural areas: obstacles and opportunities” (September 2018) and the conference “Women4Mediterranean Conference 2018 – Women build inclusive societies” (Lisbon, Portugal, 10- 11 October 2018), during which the “Empowering Women in Rural and Agriculture Areas” (UM-CIHEAM) workshop will take place, Wikigender, CIHEAM and the UfM organize an online discussion on the topic “Strengthening the role of women in rural and agricultural areas: obstacles and opportunities “.

This online discussion aims to:

1. Provide a space for dialogue and knowledge exchange, in French and English
2. Promote and exchange examples of good practice
3. Propose recommendations for the engagement of development and international cooperation actors.

Participants are invited to contribute to the discussion from 17 to 21 September on the Wikigender platform. In order to bring together diverse audiences, the discussion will take place in English and French, and will also continue on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #Ruralwomen.

A summary report summarizing the main recommendations raised during the discussion will be published on Wikigender website and presented during the conference “Women4Mediterranean Conference 2018”.

The report, available in English and French, will be also shared with the respective communities of Wikigender, CIHEAM and UfM, and presented during the next international events (October 15 for World Rural Women’s Day, October 16 for World Food Day, March 8^th for International Women’s Day).

Guiding Questions

This online discussion will aim to investigate the different situations in the Mediterranean by analyzing challenges and opportunities related to strengthening the role of rural women in the economic, social, legal and political spheres.

The interventions will help to better understand the challenges but also the opportunities of the gender approach in rural, coastal and agricultural sustainable development initiatives and policies.

A. Understanding the situation of rural women:

• What is the role of rural women in sustainable development goals?
• What are the social, economic and environmental challenges facing rural women and girls? (compared to men and women in urban areas)
• How to overcome barriers to empowering rural women?

B. Identify what works

• What are some examples of policies, programs or initiatives addressing gender barriers faced by women and girls in rural areas?
• What are the existing best practices to better integrate the gender dimension into agriculture and rural development?

C. Recommendations: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals:

• How can the 2030 Agenda be used to address the current challenges facing rural women?

Key Resources

• CIHEAM Watch Letter
• CIHEAM Contribution to Women Empowerment
• UpM
• Wikigender
• Do discriminatory social institutions matter for food security? (OECD, 2012) 

To receive a certificate of participation, please contact dev.gender@oecd.org

Contribute!

We look forward to your participation! We strongly encourage you to disseminate news about the online discussion via your networks and on Twitter using #RuralWomen and the following link to this page: http://bit.ly/2wGSxMR

• To participate, simply type your comment below or register directly via Disqus, Twitter, Facebook or Google before typing your comment. Open for comments from 9am on 17/09 until 6pm on 21/09
• To insert a URL hyperlink, make sure you shorten the URL first before posting it, otherwise it may not work. (e.g. using bitly, google url shorterner, tiny url…)

Anyone with an Internet connection is invited to participate in the discussion and we encourage you to express your views on this pressing issue.

Please note however that comments will be moderated to ensure that there is no spam disrupting the discussion.

Problems to comment?

Please make sure your browser supports Javascript. Disqus is rendered correctly in all major web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

If you encounter any problem posting your comment, please email us at contact@wikigender.org and we will assist you.

See our highlights from our partners on the occasion of International Women’s Day:

Events

FAO

Step It Up Together with Rural Women to End Hunger and Poverty

• Co-organizers: Slovak Republic, European Commission, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women
• When: 13 March, 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
• Where: Ex-Press Bar – GA Building (max. capacity: 80)
• Contact: peter.selepec@mzv.sk

The High-level Event (HLE) “Step It Up Together with Rural Women to End Hunger and Poverty” held on 16 December 2016 in Rome, provided governments, UN entities, civil society and other stakeholders with the opportunity to identify challenges, gaps and collaborative actions to unleash the potential of rural women and girls to end food insecurity and poverty. In the context of the sixty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the European Union and the Slovak Republic, together with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women, will organize a side event aimed at continuing the dialogue initiated during the HLE. Aimed at representatives of Member States, UN entities, non-governmental organizations and civil society, the side event will disseminate the key messages from the HLE, particularly with regard to three critical elements that were highlighted during the HLE deliberations:

• The crucial role that rural women play in ending hunger and poverty;
• The need for policies and programmes to accelerate rural women’s economic empowerment; and
• The importance of promoting transformative approaches to tackle the underlying socio-cultural and behavioural causes of gender inequality in rural areas.

Enhancing opportunities for rural women’s employment: Lessons from the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment

• Organizers:Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Sweden International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women
• When: 13 March, 6:30 PM-7:45 PM
• Where: Ex-Press Bar – GA Building (max. capacity: 80)
• Contact: azzurra.chiarini@wfp.org

RSVP
Agenda – Enhancing opportunities for rural women’s employment: Lessons from the JP RWEE
Flyer – Enhancing opportunities for rural women’s employment: Lessons from the JP RWEE

IFC

March 8 at different times in different locations: Ring the Bell for Gender Equality events, co-organized by IFC, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative, UN Women, Women in ETFs and World Federation of Exchanges. The partnership highlights how the private sector can play in advancing gender equality to achieve the UN’s SDG 5.

To find out more, please contact Danielle Chesebrough (Danielle.Chesebrough@unpri.org).

Should you wish to express your interest in attending a bell ringing in your country, please complete this form. Space is very limited, but you can help share the message the week of 6 March on social media using: #RingTheBell #WEPs #SDGs #genderequality #SDG5 #IWD2017 @globalcompact @WEPrinciples @UN_Women @SSEinitiative

UN Women

UNITED NATIONS OBSERVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2017. WOMEN IN THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK: PLANET 50-50 BY 2030

• Organizer: UN Women
• When: 08 March, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
• Where: Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN HQ

 CSW61 Youth Forum

• Organizer: UN Women
• When: 11 March, 10:00 AM – 06:00 PM
• Where: Conference Rooms 4, A, B, C, D E, 11, Overflow room: CR-2

Opportunities for women to move up value chains in Malawi through economic empowerment for the vulnerable and most excluded.

• Organizers: UN Women and Malawi
• When: 13 March, 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
• Where: Conference Room A – Conference, UN HQ.
  Malawi Side Event Flyer
• Contact: malawinewyork@aol.com

The specific objectives of the side event are as follows:

• To demonstrate successful economic empowerment initiatives that have the potential of taking women out of poverty.
• To demonstrate factors that are critical in the economic empowerment of women especially the poorest and most excluded.
• To share Malawi’s best practice for advancement of women empowerment and gender equality.

Program:

• Welcoming Remarks: His Excellency, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Malawi to the UN
• Official Address: Hon Jean A.N. Kalilani, MP, Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Malawi
• Short video on Economic Empowerment of Women Strides made by Malawi.
• Presentation on GIZ supported Economic Empowerment Project for Cash Transfer Programme Beneficiaries in Mwanza.

UNESCO

 Debate: The Courage to Create: Gender Equality and the Arts

•  When, local time: Wednesday, 8 March 2017 -2:30pm to 6:00pm
• Where: France, Paris
• Contact: Marissa Potasiak; m.potasiak@unesco.org; Ext. 84450

 In honour of International Women’s Day, UNESCO, in partnership with the French National Committee for UN Women, will host a debate entitled “The Courage to Create: Gender Equality and the Arts” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 8 March 2017, from 2.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m in Room IV.

This highly interactive debate will address the challenges and barriers facing women artists, as well as the role of the arts and creativity in achieving gender equality.

Issues of freedom of artistic expression and the impact of new media will be analysed in depth, with participants including: Laurence Rossignol, French Minister for Families, Children and the Rights of Women; Yannick Glemarec, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women; Deeyah Khan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Artistic Expression and Creativity; Ole Reitov, Executive Director of Freemuse; Jackie Buet, Director of the Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil; filmmakers Maysaloun Hamoud and Shlomi Elkabetz; artists Jepchumba and Pia Myrvold; digital publishing expert Octavio Kulesz; singer Suzanne Combo; and Simon Carpentier and Victor Solf of the band “Her”.

The debate will also launch HeForShe Arts Week Paris, an initiative inspired by UN Women’s HeForShe campaign, which will involve numerous museums, galleries, theatres and cultural centres from across the city in the fight for gender equality.

 External Links

Read here the Gender Equality Priority Action Plan for 2014-2021 and visit the Division for Gender Equality’s website

•  UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education
•   2017 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards
•   MOST School for research and public policy for gender equality

Events and activities by Genre en Action members

The members of Genre en Action are organising and taking part in numerous activities, find them on the Facebook page of Genre en Action!

 Special pages and infographics

 UN WOMEN

International Women’s Day 2017

Under the theme “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”, this year UN Women calls upon all actors to promote measures that ensure women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. They must include bridging the gender pay gap, which stands at 24 per cent globally; recognizing women’s unpaid care and domestic work and addressing the gender deficit in care work; as well as addressing the gender gaps in leadership, entrepreneurship and access to social protection; and ensuring gender-responsive economic policies for job creation, poverty reduction and sustainable, inclusive growth.

External links

• Explore just some facts on where women stand today in the changing world of work.
• Think you know your facts on women and the economy? Take the quiz to find out!

Infographics

Unpaid work

 Wage gap

Informal work 

UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Women are missing from the Ranks of Higher Education and Research

To mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the UIS is highlighting the persistent gap between men and women in doctoral studies and research.

To reduce this gap, the UIS is working with partners to go beyond the numbers and identify the barriers that deter women from pursuing careers in research, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

External links:

• Get more information here
• New indicators are in the pipeline to help bridge the gender gap in STEM
• Women in Science – Explore the Data
• UNESCO SAGA project

Special focus in the news

• FACTBOX-What is female genital mutilation? Where does it happen? (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• Online mapping tool gives FGM runaways a path to help (The Guardian)
• Statement by UN Women on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (Big News Network)
• Female genital mutilation is hurting Australian girls and we must work together to stamp it out (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Female Genital Mutilation Ranks As One Of The Worst Manifestations Of Gender Inequality (The Huffington Post)
• Study: A New Strategy To Stop Female Genital Mutilation (Delawere Public Media)
• UN: Harmful Traditional Practice of Female Genital Mutilation Must End (Voa News)
• Bohra women against female genital mutilation: Survey in Mumbai (The Hindustan Times)
• India’s female genital mutilation: a thousand-year-old secret (Open Democracy)
• Cut in secret: the medicalization of FGM in Egypt (CNN)
• Female genital mutilation: Young Kenyan girls take part in tribal ceremony (The Telegraph)
• New Cases of FGM reported every hour in UK (Breitbart)
• Montenegro Introduces Law Against Female Genital Mutilation (Balkan Insight)
• Sexual violence: The silent health epidemic (The Globe and Mail)

Organizations who fight to end the practice of FGM around the world

• Kenya’s Maasai and Samburu becoming women without FGM (Al Jazeera)
• Almost All Girls Were Cut in Her Ethiopian Village: Not Anymore, Thanks to Her (Pulitzer Center)
• Maison des Femmes in Paris, helps victims of abuse, FGM  (Al Jazeera)
• Women Group Wants Female Genital Mutilation Act Put into Law (FrontPageAfrica)

Videos

• The facts you should know about female genital mutilation (The Guardian)

2017 Theme: “Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030.”

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. The practice also violates their rights to health, security and physical integrity, their right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and their right to life when the procedure results in death.

Key Facts:

• Globally, it is estimated that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM.
• Girls 14 and younger represent 44 million of those who have been cut, with the highest prevalence of FGM among this age in Gambia at 56 per cent, Mauritania 54 per cent and Indonesia where around half of girls aged 11 and younger have undergone the practice.
• Countries with the highest prevalence among girls and women aged 15 to 49 are Somalia 98 per cent, Guinea 97 per cent and Djibouti 93 per cent.
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
• FGM cause severe bleeding and health issues including cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths.
• FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
• The Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 calls for an end to FGM by 2030 under Goal 5 on Gender Equality, Target 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• The elimination of FGM has been called for by numerous inter-governmental organizations, including the African Union, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as in three resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

More information

About the GPE

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a partnership and funding platform that galvanizes global and national support for education in developing countries, focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable children and youth. It is the only global partnership entirely focused on education in developing countries.

Established in 2002, GPE brings together 60+ developing country governments, 20+ donors, international organizations, civil society, teacher organizations, the private sector and philanthropy to improve the lives of children and youth through quality education. Since 2003, GPE has allocated more than US$4.6 billion to partner developing countries to strengthen education systems— improving access to schools, the quality of education, equity in learning and data collection.

A key function of GPE is to support governments to develop good quality education sector plans and to encourage donors to align their support with these plans, hence reducing aid fragmentation and transaction costs.

GPE leverages the aid it provides by incentivizing developing countries to gradually allocate up to 20% of national budgets to quality education. GPE facilitates budgetary and policy transparency and supports civil society organizations to hold governments accountable for implementing national education plans.

GPE supports the ambition and vision of the new Global Goal for education calling for inclusive, equitable quality education for all by 2030. GPE 2020, GPE’s new strategic plan for the next five years, aligns GPE’s work in support of the new global education goal.

How GPE advances gender equality in and through education

GPE’s operational model works to advance gender equality in education. it does this by locking together three core strategies:

Stronger planning

GPE helps partner developing countries to strengthen their sector planning through grants that support education sector analysis and plan development, as well as through technical support.. For example, grants through the Global and Regional Activities program have helped to fund the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children and a project on addressing school-related gender-based violence.

GPE, together with the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) will soon be releasing a Guidance for Developing Gender-Responsive Education Sector Plans, which provides case studies and recommendations to help policymakers understand and apply the core principles of gender equality to education sector planning.

Mutual accountability and inclusive policy dialogue

Through inclusive policy dialogue, GPE encourages policies that are be rooted in local concerns and address locally relevant issues regarding the most disadvantaged children.

Civil society organizations can be powerful advocates for girls’ education, and including them is particularly important for strong mutual accountability.  With this in mind, GPE has allocated US$29 million to the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF), which is managed by our partner, the Global Campaign for Education.

The CSEF gives grants to 62 national civil society coalitions to support their advocacy activities, including for gender equality, build their capacity to strengthen planning, implementation and impact, and promote cross-country learning and networking.

Effective financing for implementation of sector plans

GPE partner developing countries can receive grants of up to US$100 million to finance a program that supports the implementation of their education sector plan. GPE’s results-based funding model incentivizes governments to improve equity, efficiency, and learning in their education sectors.

Activities currently funded by GPE grants include:

• School construction and upgrading in areas where there are not enough schools that girls can attend
• Recruitment of female teachers, particularly in countries where cultural norms require female-only school environments for girls
• In-service teacher training in gender-responsiveness
• Encouragement of women in administrative leadership
• Separate latrines and/or sanitary kits for girls
• Uniforms and school kits to reduce direct costs of schooling
• Cash transfers incentivizing girls to attend and remain in school, and/or rewarding high achievers
• Awareness-raising campaigns and community discussion groups to address sociocultural factors
• National studies to help develop targeted gender strategies.

Priorities moving forward

Achieving gender equality is one of GPE’s eight principles guiding its current strategic plan. Our Gender Equality Policy and Strategy 2016-2020 lays out key priorities for action, including a focus on building capacity throughout the partnership to advance gender equality, and investigating opportunities for more collaboration with other sectors, such as health, water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Read the synthesis report of the online discussion here.

Watch the concluding webinar with experts Kate Redman (GEM Report team, UNESCO); Liri Kopaçi-Di Michele (Council of Europe); and Nora Fyles (UNGEI) and Hendrina Doroba (FAWE)

Background

Good quality education and lifelong learning play a central role for realising substantive gender equality and sustainable development. This is reflected in SDG 4, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and in the Global Education 2030 Agenda, which has “inclusion, equity and gender equality” as a core focus area.

Education is a fundamental human right for all, yet girls still have fewer opportunities than boys to gain access to, complete and benefit from a quality education, particularly at upper primary and secondary levels. Girls often face multiple layers of disadvantage, including strong social and cultural norms that privilege boys’ education, inadequate sanitation facilities in schools, and negative classroom environments where they may face violence.

Learning environments, in particular, play a significant role in shaping girls’ and boys’ education and influencing their future. This includes the institutional culture, norms and practices; teacher behaviour, expectations and interactions with male and female students; peer group norms; the curriculum; as well as pedagogy and instructional materials, including textbooks. While this environment is a powerful opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes, it can also perpetuate them by portraying women in passive or supporting roles in textbooks or by overlooking issues such as gender-based violence, sexual rights or early marriage in curricula.

In this context, Wikigender partnered with UNESCO, the Global Partnership for Education, the United Nations Girls’ Education Initivative (UNGEI), Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), the Council of Europe, and the Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) for an online discussion on the theme “Addressing gender stereotypes in the classroom: how to achieve a conducive environment for adolescent girls’ learning?”. It was centred on new evidence and key findings from UNESCO’s 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, Gender Review, and Policy Paper on “Textbooks pave the way to sustainable development”.

The discussion ran on the Wikigender platform from 16-20 January 2017 and concluded with a webinar. It brought together diverse networks of international development actors, researchers, civil society, students and NGOs. It benefited from country-level perspectives from UNESCO’s Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education “Better Life, Better Future”.

 Guiding questions

• How is the learning environment influencing adolescent girls’ education outcomes? What are some of the recent trends in the development of teaching materials (including textbook content)?
• What are some of the policies, campaigns and initiatives that successfully helped to counter gender stereotypes in school settings? Which strategies are more efficient and why? How can we scale them up?
• How can we advocate for a stronger measurement framework and solidify indicators on gender inequality in education, so that we know where progress is being made and where challenges remain?

Key links

• 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and 2016 GEM Report Gender Review (UNESCO)
• “Textbooks pave the way to sustainable development” (UNESCO)
• Gender bias is rife in textbooks (GEM Report World Education Blog, 8 March 2016)
• A Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices (UNESCO, 2015)
• Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education “Better Life, Better Future” (UNESCO)
• Combating Gender Stereotypes and Sexism in and through Education (Council of Europe)
• A compilation of good practices from the Council of Europe
• The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation on Gender Mainstreaming in Education
• The Global Partnership for Education
• FAWE
• United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative 
• The Council of Europe
• Gender Responsive Pedagogy (FAWE)
• Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children

The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) is a cross-country measure of the discriminatory social institutions that drive and underpin gender inequality. Discriminatory social institutions are the formal and informal laws, attitudes and practices that shape and determine equality between women and men in all spheres of public and private life, such as education, health and employment. Its five dimensions assess gender equality in the law and in practice in the following five areas: the family, physical autonomy (including violence against women), son bias, access to land and productive resources, and civil liberties. This life course approach to development aims to capture how discrimination against women and girls adversely impacts their development pathways and ability to benefit from empowerment opportunities.

The Development Centre is now in the process of updating the SIGI for 2018. This includes the preparation of 193 country profiles.  The overall objective of this consultancy will be to contribute to the revision of SIGI by updating the country analysis on discriminatory laws, social norms and practices related to gender inequality, following an established template and questionnaire prepared by the Development Centre. The revised country profiles will be published on the SIGI website (www.genderindex.org).  Each country profile author will be fully acknowledged on the website and any related publication.

We are looking for enthusiastic consultants with a background in gender, law, women’s rights and development who meets the following criteria:

Excellent research and writing skills in English.

• Ability to absorb and synthesize complex information quickly.
• Expert knowledge of key sources and literature on women’s rights and gender equality. Specialist knowledge of the African and/or the Asia-Pacific region would be an asset.
• Proven experience in writing articles, papers or reports on women’s rights and gender equality in developing countries.
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines.

Key tasks

The key tasks of the consultant in relation to this assignment will be:

• Draft country profiles according to the template provided by the Development Centre. Each country profile will be verified by the OECD Development Centre as part of a two-step quality control check. The consultant will be expected to address any comments from the Development Centre. Full acknowledgment of each profile author will be to reflect recent legal reforms, policy changes, political developments and other changes related to social institutions.
• Compile references and full sources for all requested information points in each country note

Expected deliverables

• Updated and verified qualitative analysis and references contained within country profiles designated by the OECD Development Centre. The consultant will prepare two drafts of each country profile, responding to one round of comments from the Development Centre. These profiles will be delivered according to a schedule agreed between the consultant and the OECD Development Centre at the beginning of the contract.

Working mode

The consultant will carry out this work in close collaboration with the OECD Development Centre. Regular communication by email and phone, to update and feedback on the progress made on the assignment will be expected from the consultant. Each country profile is expected to take at least 4 full time days.

Payment

The consultant will be paid a lump sum based on the number of country profiles undertaken. To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter to Keiko.Nowacka@oecd.org .

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated trainee to join the Centre’s gender team, based in Paris. The trainee will assist the team on the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and the SIGI country study in Burkina Faso. Please note that an internship in the Organisation shall be open only to a person who is currently enrolled as a student in an educational or research institution recognised as such by the Organisation.

The trainee will be expected to:

• Produce literature reviews and provide other quantitative research, such as data collection and analysis. Provide support to the revision of the SIGI methodological and conceptual frameworks.
• Contribute to the research and analysis of the SIGI Burkina Faso country study.
• Assist in the preparation of public presentations.
• Contribute to the team’s other tasks, including drafting reports, and assisting in the co-ordination of events.
• Support activities, when appropriate, of the Wikigender platform.

Education and experience

• Be a registered student in an academic institution that has signed or is willing to sign an OECD Memorandum of Agreement relating to traineeships.
• Currently be undertaking post-graduate studies in economics and/or statistics.
• Having a good understanding of development issues and current debates on gender and development is desirable.

Core Competencies

• Strong quantitative skills and a proven ability to carry out quantitative analysis.
• Strong interest in gender and/or development issues, demonstrated through previous experience in the field (courses, thesis, internships, etc.).
• Proficiency in the use of statistical software applications (Stata and Excel) and standard software applications (MS Office).
• Fluency in English with a commitment to reaching a good working level. Knowledge of French and Spanish would be an asset.

The traineeship is for six months full time. The Organisation provides a contribution to living expenses of EUR 608.40 per month (rate applicable at the time of this publication). The trainee will need to make independent arrangements for travel and accommodation, and must provide their own health and social insurance.

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Gaëlle Ferrant, Gender Project Economist, at Gaelle.Ferrant@oecd.org by Monday 23 January 2017, 18:00 (Paris time).